An apparatus of the kind is known from EP 0 428 848 A1, which corresponds to the patent application identified above. In the known apparatus, the two wires are wound around the cable portions at the intersections by means of two winding elements which have wire entrainment means. The two winding elements rotate in opposite directions of rotation about a common axis of rotation which is determined by the cable portions to be wound around.
The problem of the present invention is to provide an apparatus of the kind set forth above, in which a common drive is provided for the two winding elements in a simple manner.
In accordance with the present invention that problem is solved by
two wheels of a hollow configuration which are driven about a common axis in mutually opposite directions; PA1 wire receiving means for the wires which are to be wound around the cable portions at the intersections, the wire receiving means being mounted in the cavities in the drive wheels displaceably in mutually opposite axial directions and being non-rotatably connected to the hollow wheels; PA1 a frame on which the two hollow wheels are rotatably mounted; and PA1 a common drive device for the two hollow wheels.
The two hollow wheels guarantee a support for winding elements which are for example of a cylindrical configuration and which contain the wire receiving means which in known manner can be in the form of bores extending in the winding elements parallel to the common axis of rotation. The support can be provided on a common frame which has two mounting plates, the hollow wheels being mounted rotatably on the two mounting plates.
The drive for the hollow wheels and thus the wire receiving means carried by the hollow wheels, about the common axis of rotation, can be in the form of a manual drive, for example a hand crank. It is also possible however to use a motor for the common drive, for example a pneumatic motor, or a hydraulic motor, or an electric motor. Possibly the hand crank or the motor drive can be optionally flange-mounted to a common drive shaft by way of which the drive moment is transmitted to the hollow wheels.
Between the common drive shaft and the hollow wheels, the apparatus may have two transmission assemblies using pulling means, or transmission assemblies using gears, or transmission assemblies with a similar action which drive the hollow wheels in opposite directions of rotation. Preferably, a transmission assembly using pulling means is used for each of the hollow wheels.